Irish passport application for foreign born children ?

[ny20005]

I'm losing the will to live with the passport office.

Apply online they said, it's easy they said 🤬

Applied online & paid for 2 children. Then they tell you that you gave to include original documents but can't send applications together ! How on earth am I supposed to send my passport with 2 applications if I can't send them together. They won't allow certified copies of documents either 🙄

Has anyone done this ? Of course you can't speak to anyone as their so busy

One DC at a time OP is how I’m doing it.
And yes, original documents.
You’ll get them back don’t worry.
It took me a year to get mine all sorted. I was 18.
I’m 49 now. Things haven’t changed! Still a slow as molasses process even 30 years later.
It is a totally frustrating process. I feel your pain and your plight! But honestly, do one child at a time. It’s easier actually… easier on the brain!

Can you get to the Irish embassy passport office in London? They'll normally help and get you your passport back in 20 mins.

Unless of course you are not in the UK.

turkeyboots not for a first time application for foreign born children. It’s a long process because they’re becoming citizens, not simply renewing a passport.

Ah, mine are foreign born but have an Irish parent so process maybe different.

My kids are citizens as I'm Irish born.

London embassy is closed for passports due to covid 🙄

At least I found an email address to see what they suggest I do

Oh that sucks, Embassy passport office is normally very fast and easy.

I did it one DC at a time. The day I got all the documents back from the eldest's application I sent them out with the youngest's paperwork. It took a while but we got there in the end.

@CatChant is there a timescale for how long the applications are valid for ?

Concerned it will take months to get the first one done & then we'll be into Christmas post. Can they say it's too long since I've applied ?

@turkeyboots I applied for my renewal through London but seems new kids applications have to go to Dublin (where common sense goes out the window)

It’ll be quicker to apply for duplicate copies of the documents.
That’s what we did.

You can order certified copies of the documents from the registry office. They are official copies and so accepted.

Even my own birth certificate that I have had for 30 years is a certified copy, never seen the 'original' which I'm pretty sure only exists in the registry office.

It's the same for my mum's birth, death and marriage certificates.

Oh you said they don't accept certified copies, I was told the opposite and I've heard of people getting them accepted no problem.

Lots of people no longer have the originals for whatever reason so it seems ridiculous. Don't see why they won't accept a certified copy of something from their own government records.

I used the passport express service in the post office at Liverpool - very straight forward (was precovid though).

Might be worth a look if Liverpool is a reasonable distance from you

It actually says in the guide each application must be in a separate envelope and not that they can't be submitted together, so I chose to interpret this literally and sent ours recently in separate A5 envelopes all together in the same A4 envelope On each envelope I wrote the name and app number and then on my DFs envelope I wrote 'this application contains supporting documentation or the following apps' and listed all our app numbers on it.

It also said ID docs could be certified by the witness, so while I sent in original birth certs, the passports were certified photocopies.

Haven't heard yet but only posted them about three weeks ago 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

for the following apps 🙈

@PetticoatSoldier your reply filled me with hope until I read that you've not had them back yet 😂.

I just looked into getting another copy of my birth cert & of course my county doesn't do online applications & minimum time is 60 days 🙄

I found an email address for London embassy so hopefully they'll be able to tell me if I can send them all in the one

Oh I feel so silly! Sorry to be so brainless in my replies turkeyboots and ny20005!
I misunderstood (story of my life… which is well into a deep midlife crisis).

[quote ny20005]@CatChant is there a timescale for how long the applications are valid for ?

Concerned it will take months to get the first one done & then we'll be into Christmas post. Can they say it's too long since I've applied ?[/quote]
I'm sorry I don't know if there was a timescale because I applied and paid for one DC at a time, so we didn't start the process for the youngest until the eldest had her Irish passport.

I think it took about 18 months for each DC but I had to apply to have each of them listed on the foreign births register before we could apply for the passports, because their claims were through an Irish-born grandparent (my DM). The actual passport applications only took about three months once they were on the register.

As I recall the embassy staff were lovely when I talked to them on the phone. Their attitude was very much not to worry, they'd get there in the end.

Good luck.

You have got the citizenship documents?
I seem to remember that if you take the pp application plus all the docs to the embassy, or post direct to the embassy it all happens pretty efficiently. I didn't involve the post office at all.

Yes, it is either 2 sets of everything, or one child at a time. It is quite expensive getting duplicate certificates. You do get everything back, but that isn't helpful if you need the passports quickly.

Update:

Got a reply from London embassy to confirm I can put multiple applications in the one envelope if they all require same supporting documents 🥳

I'm going to print that email & include it as well, just in case a jobsworth opens it 😂

not for a first time application for foreign born children. It’s a long process because they’re becoming citizens, not simply renewing a passport

So are you doing fbr and passport all at the same time?

I have done fbr first, got copies of birth/death/marriage, and certified copies of passports are allowed.

Once we get those I’ll go to the passport office in person. I can’t be without passports for over a year!

@Reallyreallyborednow

My kids are already Irish citizens as I was born in Ireland so I only need to go through the passport application

Oh ok. Confused as you said they were also becoming citizens. I thought an irish parent meant you had automatic citizenship from birth-i’ve been told I can go to the passport office, i don’t have to apply online, but that was pre-covid.